A Strange Dream

This playlist lands somewhere in between life and death. Somewhere in between mundane and awe-inspiring. For questioning all you think you know. Then remembering that all answers can be found within. Hiding in the shadows of your subconscious, they  reveal themselves to you only in your dreams. Listen to them. Listen for the hushed whispers of the universe that keep the colors flourishing and magic alive. What are the limits of reality? What are the limits of the mind? A shape-shifter, this playlist plays with imagination. With illusion. With creativity. And confusion. Anna Justen prepares us for slipping away on Are You Ready, hypnotically chanting, “Are you ready to leave? Your mind? All you know? All you love?” This playlist is a departure. This is A Strange Dream. 

MiCHOU’s DREAM, Anna Justen (2025)

I may very well be unable to accurately describe Anna Justen’s MiCHOU’s DREAM better than Hugh at Turn & Work has already done: “Anna Justen’s debut MiCHOU’s DREAM is a fractured dream journal disguised as an indie-folk album. It’s glitchy, emotionally sharp, and constantly off-kilter.” Upon just one eye-opening listen, you won’t struggle to see why the Seattle-native’s debut album belongs in this playlist.

The charming irony of it all is that I had absolutely no idea MiCHOU’s DREAM was actually about a series of dreams when I added it to this playlist. Indeed, the inspiration was indeed dreams about her childhood cat, stitched together on the record by “samples of family voices and field recordings from the house where she grew up.” This came as a pleasant surprise because it meant that Justen not only successfully conveyed this theme in a tangible way for listeners, but she did it so well that I chose the record for this dream-themed playlist without even knowing. In this sense, Justen’s debut truly is a success. Soft, witty, and occasionally stinging, MiCHOU’s DREAM feels like Justen’s wanderlust, questions, and growing pains - played out in a hazy daydream of looking back on the past. It wanders but flows wonderfully. Fit for watching a willow tree in the wind. For dazing off in a field. For waking up somewhere new. For finding magic in everything. 

I Become A Shade, Seoul (2015)

Seoul is truly the soul of dream-pop (pun intended, haha). I dare say the band’s one -and-only, first-and-last 2015 album I Become A Shade is a record that slipped under the radar. The band spent a total of two years publishing music before quickly disbanding - or, rather, disappearing without a trace. You only have to listen once to I Become A Shade to understand why exactly their dissolution is so regrettable.

Any lovers of Yellow House are sure to find comfort in Seoul. The band leans slightly less surf rock and slightly more indie rock, but nonetheless has the same energy as the well-known South African one-man-show Emile van Dango. Seoul’s music is for wandering and pondering. For beach walks at sunrise and sunset. For changing tides. I Become A Shade is - to its core - a gentle dream-pop masterpiece - charismatic, groovy, and acutely well-produced. Like a tree in the wind, we bend and sway with Seoul on this record. Titled. Like the figure on the cover. And just like the figure, the record feels somewhere in between worlds. Between life and death. A dream. With just one listen, you will see why I Become A Shade is so very special, and why it is home in this playlist.

Changing Rules, AFAR (2025)

I can’t put my finger on just why this record reminds me so much of Kamanių Šilelis. Maybe it's something about the cover’s resemblance to the Lithuanian' duo’s 9. Or maybe its their strange cadence that somehow results in surprisingly coherent storytelling. There is something uneasy about AFAR on Changing Rules. An unpredictability. An unforeseeable weirdness.

Surrendered to the impossibility of what comes next, Changing Rules forces resigns us to the present. To accept what appears in front of us. Take it or leave it. But do not deny its magic. It's mischief. Entirely free from labels, Changing Rules lives up to its name. And its cover. The record is sporadic. Restless. Unusual. Wandering. Wonderful. AFAR takes us along for the ride as they stumble gracefully from creeping doom of Born and Die to the punky alt kick of No More Advice to the sultry somber of Body on Body to the whisked-away dreamy air of Moon Body Eyes to the classic grungy alt-rock tone of Something Special to the wired electronic grit of the title track and Embodied. Changing Rules may be thoroughly diverse, but it is not scattered. It maintains cohesion and proficient technicality while staying playful with a diverse set of genres. There is a childlike wonder about waiting to see what Changing Rules will spit out next. It keeps us guessing. It keeps us imagining. It keeps us dreaming a strange dream.

INTRO, Kaeto (2024)

London-based Scotland-native Kaeto has come out swinging on her debut LP. Ripe with possibility and bursting with artistry and energy, the young artist makes us feel like anything is possible on INTRO - exactly the kind of energy a debut album should carry. Kaeto has already given us a heads up that she doesn’t subscribe to your stories about her. Consider the doors kicked down.

On INTRO, Kaeto is breathing life into a whole new world. With properly polished production, she gracefully weaves marine electronica, punk spirit, trip-hop, and indie dream pop into the tapestry of her universe. We are soothed by smooth synths, unsettled by eerie lyricism, spun around by dizzying drums, spooked by siren sounds, and blessed by blissful wolf-like howling. Balanced between frivolous fun, raw emotion, and profound self-reflection, Kaeto is a consistent and confident storyteller. INTRO is a dream I want to stay in.